‘The Cabin in the Woods’ Director Drew Goddard Working on a Mysterious New Project

Things are finally looking up for Drew Goddard. After a long period of lining up projects only to see them topple down, it looks like he’s stepping behind the camera again for what’ll be his second feature film. The Cabin in the Woods director just sold a spec script to Fox, entitled Bad Times at the El Royale. And so far, that’s all we know about it.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, details about the plot are being kept under wraps, but it’s described as “a contained thriller with either sci-fi or horror elements.” So, something like The Cabin in the Woods or The Belko Experiment or along those lines. The reading process was also extremely secretive, with the actual script going only to top studio executives, and those executives having to read it off a tablet and return it to the courier when they were done. Fox, for whom Goddard wrote the script for The Martian, snapped it up.

It sounds like a totally original project, which is great news for Goddard, who saw two huge opportunities based on comic series pass him by. He was originally supposed to direct Netflix’s Daredevil, but left that project after writing a couple scripts, in favor of Sony’s Sinister Six movie, which they then scrapped after they decided to merge with Marvel post-Amazing Spider-Man 2. He’s had a few neat jobs since then, The Martian script being one of them and the pilot of NBC’s The Good Place being another (if you haven’t watched it yet, you should), and he’s also helping out with Deadpool 2. But it’s extremely exciting to hear he’ll soon be behind the camera again for an original feature film. The Cabin in the Woods deftly turned the horror genre on its head and became an instant classic. Here’s hoping Goddard can replicate that success.